


I'll Be Your Shelter

by queerhazeleyes



Series: Death Cannot Stop True Love [2]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 08:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerhazeleyes/pseuds/queerhazeleyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel and Collins meet again, one night in a bar in Santa Fe. Sparks fly. Violins play. Reincarnation fic where both are reborn as women.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Your Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> So after finishing Darling, We're Everything, I felt I needed another part. Where they do find each other again, and this time they have all the time in the world to be together. After all, it was promised. But I also felt like I hadn't been writing enough about women. Therefore, this go 'round, Collins and Angel were both born and identify as cis women - Angel is still Angel, but Collins' first name here is Tamara.
> 
> I welcome any and all commentary/constructive criticism.

The bar just outside downtown Santa Fe was a quiet one in general—too quiet for the hoard of frat boys currently crowding the tables. Tamara hunched forward over her drink, wishing the boys would just go away and leave her to her Stoli. Of course, that was never going to happen. Not in this universe, anyway. But no sooner had Dudebro No. 5 gotten into her personal space than a skinny Latina stole the stool on Tamara’s other side and leaned onto the bar.

 

“You okay, honey?” she asked. There was something about her—a certain familiar sparkle in her eyes—that had Tamara turning her back on the frat boy and smiling at the other girl.

 

“Better now.”

 

The girl smiled back and winked. She signaled the bartender for a beer, which she clinked against Tamara’s glass. “Cheers…?”

 

“Collins. Tamara Collins.”

 

“Tamara Collins,” the girl repeated with another, wider, smile before taking a sip. “Mmm. I’m Angel.”

 

“My name’s Travis,” the boy behind Tamara tried to interject. They ignored him.

 

Tamara took a sip of her own drink, looking Angel up and down appreciatively. She wore tight, faded jeans with the knees torn out and a white tank top that only seemed to emphasize the golden hue of her skin, while her long dark hair swung in gentle curls around her face. “You are an angel,” she said with a touch of awe. “Why haven’t I seen you here before?”

 

“I just moved to town.”

 

They began to chat, Travis the frat boy trying to butt in all the while, still convinced he had a chance. The bartender started throwing him increasingly dirty looks at his refusal to take a hint.

 

After only one beer, Angel switched to water. Tamara did the same, wanting to be as sober as possible if this flirtation ended up going somewhere else tonight. She watched as Angel wiped the condensation off her glass and swipe it across the back of her neck, where her hair was starting to make her overwarm. Her cheeks reddened as she saw Tamara’s eyes following the motion.

 

“You’re cute when you blush,” found its way out of Tamara’s mouth without conscious thought.

 

“You are a flirt,” Angel replied. Behind Tamara, Travis tried to get the bartender to make up another drink for Tamara, but the bartender only glared at him.

 

“Is that a problem?” Tamara asked. She really hoped it wasn’t; Angel really was gorgeous and there was a sort of pull about her that Tamara couldn’t begin to explain.

 

“Not at all.”

 

Travis finally broke under combined force of Tamara’s complete indifference towards him and the bartender’s warning looks. He wandered dejectedly back to his friends. Angel saluted his retreating back and announced, “Alone at last!”

 

Tamara glanced at the table where at least ten boys were crowded around in varying levels of intoxication and winced. “One of them’ll be back again, I guarantee.”

 

Angel shifted close, hand inches away from Tamara’s on the bartop. “Then how about we go get some real privacy?” 

 

* * *

 

 

“Do you believe in reincarnation?”

 

Tamara’s bedroom was dim, glow-in-the-dark stars making vague yellow spots on the ceiling as her alarm clock distantly ticked away the seconds. Through the window filtered light from a nearby street lamp. Angel gave a soft, contented sigh and snuggled under the down comforter Tamara usually kept folded at the foot of the bed. “Maybe. Sometimes, I guess I do. Why?”

 

Tamara twisted around in the bed to watch her new lover’s face. “I dunno. It just feels… familiar, I guess. You and me. Us. This.” Angel’s brows furrowed. “I don’t know how to explain,” Tamara said with a contemplative frown. “Like, like we grew up together, and we were the best of friends, but then I moved away, or you left, or something, and we forgot who the other one was. And then tonight, at the bar when you came up… violins started to play, and part of me went ‘Oh! There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’” She shook her head, feeling silly. But Angel only smiled.

 

“Feels like we’ve been here before. Done this before,” she said. “But different. It’s like deja vu. Feels like maybe it should be Christmas tonight.”

 

Tamara felt a smile of her own spreading. “Christmas, huh?” she asked teasingly. She leaned forward to steal a kiss, which quickly became a bit more than a kiss. She broke away before it could turn into round two. “Are we insane? I mean, we just met tonight. And I’m talking about past lives and you’re talking about deja vu and…”

 

Angel caught Tamara’s chin in one hand and rubbed her thumb soothingly against the other woman’s jawline. “Hey,” she said. “It’s only too fast if it feels too fast. Does it feel too fast?”

 

“No,” Tamara replied carefully. “It feels just right.”

 

“Then it is.” Angel punctuated the statement with a quick kiss. Her hand moved to card fingers through Tamara’s short, tight curls. “Besides, if we start now, we’ll have forever.”

 

“I do like the sound of forever.”

 

“Mmm,” was Angel’s reply as she snuggled deeper under the covers, cuddling close to Tamara. “Maybe we could move to New York. Open up a restaurant.” And with that musing, she drifted off into sleep, curled around her lover.


End file.
